New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-02-11
AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE

An UNHOLY ALLIANCE
That was spectacle for gods and men when
the Prohibitionist leaders stood side and side
with the rimselIers at Albany fighting the High
| License BILL There were to be seen leading
liquor man opposing the measure In the name
| of temperance, and a minister OF the gospel
| pleadng for free rum. No wonder some of the
| Prohibitionists felt themselves in strange COM
| many vet after all, they had no right to
hold alOOf from their allies, the salOon-k keepers
In their present attitude the public have full
and fair demonstration of the real moral status
of the third party movement These avowed
| deyotees of total abstinence have gone to
| Albany in the interest of drunkard making. and
| in order to help that interest as much as pos
| sible they have given themselves over to gross
| and persistent Misrepresentation and untruth
| They have assumed responsibility for the potent
| falsehood that high license has always failed
| 10 check drinking and to diminish the number
| of saloons In Missouri the Downing law has
| reduced the number of saloons by fifty per cent.
| In Chicago q marked reduction of the number
has taken place. But it is not necessary TO
specify instances In view of the incontestable
proof afforded by the fierce opposition Of the
bill. Every one knows that this opposition is
prompted by self-interest, and If high license
was not to be feared 10y the saloons they would
| not fghti it.
They Mt least know where the shoe pinches,
but what is to'be said of the third-party sham
temperance advocates There they stand
awkwardly enough, doing their best to help
the cause of whiskey, clasping hands with the
liouor-men who frankly admit that their bust
ness will be injured by the Crosby law, and in
| the face of this admission solemnly pretending
| to be still! on the side of good morals and
| Christian civilization. Either these people are
hopeless "cranks" or they are hypOcrites.
| There is no defence Of their conduct conceiv-
able from rational point Of view. Men who
iuggle with such paradoxes as practical alliance
with intemperancc combined with theoretical
advocacy of Prohibition have no right to expect
to be taken seriously. 1t is by their deeds
that men are judged I'm the last resort.
| and the deeds of these false friends
| of temperance are Mt least unequivocal
| enough to-day. They are ranged openly on the
side of the saloons. They are out openly In OPP
position TO all restriction upon the drink traffic.
| The fence between Prohibition and Free Rum
| Is broken down and cleared away, and shoulder
to shoulder the two parties advance to the attack
of the Crosby bill If the sight were not 80 sad
il would be grotesquc almost beyond expression.
| But there Is unfortunately no room for doubt
| "a to the nature Of the situation. Third party
ism, after struggling long TO maintain the SEM
blancc of dignity and sincerity, has flung ap-
pearances to the wind and plunged with fran
tic recklcssness into tho arms of the Rum
Power.
Never surely was there more startling il
lustration of the figure, STEALING the livery OF
Heaven to serve the Devil In" And to what
end has this degrading and disgusting compact
been arrangcd7 1t is not credible that even the
fatuous thrd-party allies ofthe liquor sellers be-
icve the latter will ever reciprocate the support
they are receiving to-day at Albany The course
of the saloOnists is perfectly Ineligible. They
are fighting for their own hand. But for whose
hand are the alleged Prohibitionists fighting I
Not the cause Of temperance. To assert that
weuld be too prepOsterOus. When In politics a
man suddenly abandons principles he has pro-
fessed; when he rises to defend those which he
has previously condemned; the public suspect
his integrity and ask themselves what he sold
himself for For years the PrOhibih0nsts have
been charging venality upon all who declined
to share their fanatical views, and therefore
they need not be surprised and they have
no right to protest if in their turn the price
of their alliance with the saloons becomes a
subject of speculation. Are the saloon men to
subscribe to The Voics' Are they to under
take to raise for it that hundred thousand cir
culatiOn it wants SO badly Are the wages OF
sin to exc out the campaign fund of the Pro-
hibition nominee in 1883 Or does the third
party expect, in return for its championship of
free rum, to receive the vote Of the liquor men
at that time 7 These are questions which the
unholy alliance at Albany renders Apostle for
all belief in the sincerity and consistency of the
third party leaders is inevitably destroyed by
their present action. High License will have 10
be carried without them and in spite of them.
but 1t will be none the less effective for being
untrammeled by hypocrisy and chicanery.